Adjustable toe or foot rail for vehicles.



No. 652,066. Patented June l9, I900. 6. WHITE.

ADJUSTABLE TUE 0R FOOT RAIL FOR VEHICLES.

(Application filed Mar. 27, 1900.)

(No Model.)

GEORGE \VIIITE, OF ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS.

A DJUSTABLE TOE OR FOOT RAIL FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 652,066, dated June 19, 1900. Application filed March 27, 1900. Serial N o. 10,3Z5. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rock Island, in the county of Rock Island and State of Illinois, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Adjustable Toe or Foot Rails for Vehicles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this-specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The present invention has for its object to provide a toe or foot rail attachment for carriages,sleighs,and other like vehicles in which the rail may be conveniently adj usted to adapt it to the feet and limbs of the person in the vehicle.

The invention therefore consists in a toe or foot rail attachment constructed substantially as shown in the drawings and hereinafter described and claimed.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a perspective view of a portion of a vehicle-body, showing the toe or foot rail and its connections therewith; Fig. 2, a detail perspective view, on an enlarged scale, showinga modification in the manner of adj ustably connecting the ends of the toe or foot rail to the braces; Fig. 3, an additional modification thereof; Fig. 4c, a sectional vietv, on'an enlarged scale, of the modi fication shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a similar view of the modification shown in Fig. 3. Inthe accompanyingdrawings,Arepresents a portion of the body of a vehicle having at its front end the usual dashboard B.

In describing the application of my invention I have shown one of many forms of vehicle-bodies to better illustrate the manner of connecting the braces thereto and the relative position of the braces and foot or too rail. To any part of the vehicle-body are suitably con nected the inclined broad flat ways or braces O, to which the correspondingly single broad flat toe or foot rail D is adj ustably secured at desired height, according to the length of the limbs of the rider. In the present instance I have shown these braces with right-angle bends a b at their upper ends to fit the ends of the dash posts c, which are secured thereto by suitable bolts, screws, or other like fastenings, as shown at d. The lower ends of the inclined braces G are bent outward to form suitable feet d to secure the same to the sills e by any desirable fasteniugs, as shown at f. The braces being disposed upon an incline, when the toe or foot rail D is bodily moved along the same the height of the rail will be changed and also its position horizontally with relation to the end of the vehicle-body. Thus by having the braces inclined and the rail movable thereon a compound adjustment is obtained to adapt the position of the rail to the length of limbs and feet of the person in the vehicle.

In Fig. 1 the broad flat ways are provided with slots 9 to receive the shanks of bolts secured by nuts h, providing means whereby the ends of the broad fiat toe-rail are adj ustably connected with the ways.

In Fig. 2 there is shown a wire loop 7 which has screw-threaded ends to receive nuts 7t, said loop clamping the end of the toe or foot rail to the brace, and byloosening the nuts the rails may be moved lengthwise of the braces to the position desired, and by screwing up the nuts the rail will be drawn tightly against the braces and held in its adjusted position.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings is shown an additionalmodification in bending the ends of the toe or foot rail to form hooks Z to overlap the inclined braces and held in frictional contact therewith by bolts 'm and nuts a, the action of the bolts and nuts at the ends of the too or foot rail being similar to the loop 2' and nuts 76.

In a too or foot rail for vehicles it is not only desirable to adjust the position of the same in a horizontal direction, but to change or regulate the height of the rail to adapt it to an average-sized person as said person would prefer to have it. The proper adj ustment of the height of the rail would bring the position of the same about two-thirds from the heel of the foot, and as there are many diiferent sizes of feet it follows that a too or foot rail only capable of adj ustment in a h0rizontal direction could not adapt itself to the length of the leg as well as to the foot. It is therefore of importance that the toe or foot rail should be capable of an adjustment that will change its height to adapt it to the person in the "vehicle, which I attain by bodily moving the toe or foot rail along the braces to change its position with relation thereto and holding the rail in its adjusted position by suitable means best adapted to the purpose, as hereinbefore described.

It should be understood that the braces to which the rail is adjustably connected form no part of the frame or body of the vehicle, but are independent attachments thereto and may be removed therefrom, if desired,and attached to any other vehicle or when broken or injured may be removed for repairs or new braces may be substituted. The braces being independent of any other part of the vehicle, the same may be used with any of the ordinary forms of vehicles without any alteration whatever. The toe or foot rail is a single element, being of sufficient length to extend to both the braces, and is adjusted bodily thereon to adapt it to both feet and should not be confounded With the ordinary footrests, which are formed separately, and each must be adjusted independently of the other.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of a pair of straight inclined Ways each having means whereby it is adapted to be secured to a dash-post, and means whereby it is adapted to be secured to a sill, a toe-rail having its ends lapping the inclined Ways, and 'means whereby the ends of the toe-rail are adjusted in the plane of the inclined ways.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE WHITE.

Witnesses:

T. D. WHITE, ALBERT PAHL. 

